This invention pertains to testing covering product compliance.
Many products must comply with standards and/or regulations. For example, electronic computing equipment must meet a variety of electrical safety standards, electromagnetic interference standards, and equipment compatibility standards.
Compliance with standards generally involves subjecting one or more representative prototypes and/or product samples to a battery of standardized testing conditions. A test engineer administers each test and records the results, e.g., by filling in the blanks in a word processing document. After the tests are complete, the recorded results from one or more tests are re-entered into a final report that meets the requirements of the organization for whom the report is prepared.
Compliance testing has traditionally been a time-consuming process. Testers must have a mastery of the current applicable standards and testing procedures. The tester (or someone else charged with preparing a report) must also have a mastery of procedures and formats for report preparation, and be able to compile sometimes voluminous testing data into a report without error. After tests are complete, preparation of a typical final report can take weeks.
In addition to the problems with traditional testing identified above, today""s fast-paced global market has complicated the testing puzzle. Now many products must meet standards in different countries, each requiring a separate report in a separate report format. Short product life-cycles make compliance testing delays costly, and place a demanding load on test personnel.
In contrast to the traditional distributed and highly manual compliance testing process, the present invention involves a centralized testing system (although the testers themselves may remain distributed). In one embodiment, a central electronic repository houses information on testing procedures and equipment, test data log formats, and report formats. A relational database is configured to store and retrieve test data related to multiple products. A test application server coordinates the central electronic repository and the database with a web server application, allowing remote users to use their web browsers to select a test, view and follow test procedures tailored for their equipment and their test, upload results from the test into the relational database, automatically view those results, and create different types of final reports from those results with a few keystrokes on their computer.
The present invention has many advantages when compared to traditional compliance testing. It guides users through a complicated testing process using a familiar web-browser environment. It provides users with links to detailed instructions and standards that further aid a user in performing high-quality tests. It allows users to directly upload data from computer-connected test equipment into the relational database, thus saving time and eliminating manual errors. It can check for missing and erroneous test data entries and prompt a user accordingly. It allows multiple testers to easily integrate their results, and other users to view these results. It automatically generates final reports in any of a number of selected formats using the data in the relational database. Finally, test procedures, testing templates, and report templates are all centrally maintained, creating a highly standardized process that can be quickly and reliably expanded and revised.
In a first aspect of the invention, a centralized product testing system is disclosed. The system comprises a relational database for storing test data related to multiple products. It further comprises a central electronic repository for storing test templates and report templates in electronic form. It also comprises a test application server that allows a remote user with a web browser to access the testing system. The server has the capability to store test data entered by the user on web-browser compatible testing forms into the relational database. The server also has the capability to dynamically generate product test reports in multiple selectable report formats, based on report templates from the central electronic repository and on selected stored test data. Preferably, the test application server comprises a test form generator that dynamically produces web-browser compatible test forms based on user input supplied on other web-browser compatible forms, test templates from the central electronic repository, and test data from the relational database.
In another aspect of the invention, a method of automating product testing and reporting is disclosed. In this method, a user is guided through a testing process by a series of dynamically-generated test-specific web-browser compatible test forms. Test results are accepted from a user as indicated by the user on the test forms. The test results are parsed into a relational database.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a related method of automating product testing and reporting is disclosed. In this method, test data from multiple test locations is gathered to a central test application server by supplying dynamically generated web-browser test forms from the central server to testers at the test locations and accepting test data indicated on the web-browser test forms by the testers. The accepted test data is stored in a central relational database. User requests for product test reports are then filled by locating test data for that product in the central relational database and filling a report template using that test data.